Friday, 17 August 2012

Now you may think that yes, it's free but is it good enough to trust with your critical and personal account information etc... The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish). So I would say a resounding YES!

Not only is it a linux program, but, it runs on windows too, there are Mac OSX and IOS versions as well as Android etc. in short you can use it cross platform from PC to Mobile to tablet.

Yes amazing eh? It's open source honest...

Heres how I use it.

I use it in conjunction with DropBox, another greatly useful thing to sign up for, sign up Here.

I created a new Database using a password and a key file.

I then dropped the database into my DropBox so that I could synchronise across all my computers and devices (yes DropBox is also cross platform)

Now you may think "wait a minute, it's out there in the big bad interweb, isn't that a bit unsecured?" No, it's not, because the file is encrypted for one with your password, but this is not enough as you would be aware, so remember that key file? Well copy this file to all your devices, you need this to open the database file, without it you will not be able to access the file.

For your desktop computer, just copy the key file to a USB stick, install the software on your PC and point it to the file when you use your password database, then remove the USB Stick for double security as its not permanently on your system.

Et viola! You have a free cross platform, cross device password manager you can trust in.

Never get caught short when you access a website you can't remember the password for.

KeePass also has features that you can use when it's running on the desktop where you can get it to open the URL you've included in your password entry in the database, also you can configure it to automatically log you into the site without actually having to type in your details.

Great stuff!

Oh! Just a reminder, put the key file manually on the devices you want KeePass on, do not make it available anywhere, no key file means no access, therefore even if someone knows your password they will not be able to access your database.

Saturday, 3 March 2012

Okay, so you want to preview Windows 8 Consumer Preview or Windows 8 Server Beta but you dont want to use a VM or wipe out or do any repartitioning of your systems. Well your in Luck... heres how to go about it.

This is not for any XP based system unfortunatly, but for any system with Windows 7 or Vista installed as we are going to make use of the newer BCD store, though there are ways of using this with a native XP installed, but thats another story.

Help yourself to the ISO of chioce and take note of the key, you will need it for Windows 8 install. Burn the ISO to a DVD and away we shall go.

I will be using Windows 8 Server Beta to do this, but the initial preperation for the drive is identical whether you use Win 8 Server or Win 8.

Shall we start?
Okay, the usual boot option when booting froma DVD Drive, hit a key at this point as always if you want the DVD to boot.

When the DVD has booted choose your Time and currancy format and click next.

When you are at this screen do not continue right away.

Use the key combination of SHIFT - F10 to bring up a command prompt and type 'diskpart', this is what you should see.

Now here is where the magic happens.
The first thing you want to do is list the available Hard Drives by entering 'LIST DISK'.

Now we need to select the disk you wish to use for this procedure, enter 'SELECT DISK 0', where '0' is the drive you want to use, I'm usin the only one on the system so '0' it is.

Next list the Volumes on the now selected disk by entering 'LIST VOLUME'. As you can see there are a few here, the one you want is the volume that holds the Win 7 install, in this case the biggest one at 39Gb, take a note of the drive letter it is using.

Now, this is where we create the VHD for our installation. there are various options for creating a VHD file, but ill not go into this for this article, just to say that the following command will create the VHD needed for Win 8 to install into one.

Execute the following command to create a 20Gb VHD file that is not Dynamic:

'CREATE VDISK FILE=d:\win8.vhd MAXIMUM=20000 TYPE=FIXED'

Notice that the location of the file uses the letter of the volume I want it to be in.

Now we need to select the newly created VHD file, execute the following comand:
'SELECT VDISK FILE=d:\win8.vhd'

Next we attach the VDISK so the current environment sees it as a drive, execute the comand:'ATTACH VDISK'

Now we need to partition the virtual disk: 'CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY'

And format it: 'FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK'

A drive letter needs to given to the VDISK now, not entirly sure if this is necessary but it doesnt hurt.
'ASSIGN LETTER=V:'

To see what all that has done do a 'LIST VOLUME' and you will see a new volume with the letter V ready to be used.

If you want, you can do a 'LIST VDISK' to see the attached Virtual disk you have created.

Type 'EXIT at the prompt twice to return you to the windows setup screen.

Now you can start the install.

As I was installing Windows 8 Server Beta is was not asked at any point for a serial number, but be assured that the Windows 8 Consumer Preview will, so at some point you will need the serial from the download page.

I decided to install the full GUI version of Win 8 Server.

Accept the usual Lic Terms.

Go for the Custom Install to do a full installation.

and when you cat to the part asking where you want to install windows, you now choose the Virtual Drive you created, in this case its Drive1 Partition 1. You may notice that there is a warning that it cannot be installed there, but it will anyway so ignore it.

And off it goes

let it reboot

then let it reboot again, here you can now see that is now in the selectable options for booting between Windows 7 and Windows Server 8 Beta.

You will now be able to download the files to your system. the only one you need to worry about is the third step, Windows Virtual PC Download. Install this component and then reboot, you now have Virtual PC installed onto your system. if you still have the media and a license for XP you can now go ahead and install XP then install the Integration Components, and viola you now have XPMode in the Home and Premuim versions of Win 7.

You could download the Windows XP Mode step 2 but you will find that it will not work as XP Mode detects your underlying OS version and will not run under the Home and Premium versions of Win 7.